Decorative

Archive 2019 - 2021

Friday 17 December 2021

Pension Remedy updated Comms

The NPCC and Home Office have issued further information about police officer pensions in the light of impending remedy. There is a particular focus on officers who, once legislation is in place, will be transferring from the 1987 scheme to the 2015 CARE scheme

The Home Office have published updated communications material on the benefits of the CARE pensions scheme (the 2015 scheme) on gov.uk which can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefits-of-the-police-pension-scheme-2015 as well as a snappy facts – Police Pension Scheme update.

This update will be of particular interest to those fully-protected members moving to 2015 membership from April or current opt outs joining the scheme from April 2022.

The NPCC have also released an update and  financial illustrations presented as a booklet with additional explanations and links to more detailed information including Members’ guides for ’87 and 2015 Schemes. The information is based on the remedy legislation currently progressing through parliament

The illustrations have been provided by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD). All the illustrations are for PC rank and are for 1987 scheme members closest to retirement as this was the agreed primary focus.  

They have been broken down into 4 main age groups with illustrations for various ages and length of service, hyperlinked to take the reader straight to the illustration that most closely fits their age and level of service. The purpose of these illustrations is to help members find an indicative representation of benefits that would be available with mixed benefits.

We appreciate that the illustrations are complex, because the 2015 scheme benefits are more complex than the 1987 scheme. Nevertheless, we wanted to ensure you have full access to the information we have been provided with.

GAD is also developing an on line modeller, which they intend to roll out in the new year.   This will allow members to insert their own details to produce an illustration more accurate to their particular circumstances, therefore not every individual scenario is catered for within the booklet.

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Thursday 26 August 2021

The Home Office have now issued:

The key points to highlight within the legislation are:

  • The legislation is consistent with the overall direction set out in the February consultation response in that eligible members of the pension scheme will have a choice of the benefits they wish to take for the “remedy period” of April 2015 to 31 March 2022
  • From 1 April 2022, when the remedy period ends, all those in service will be members of the reformed pension schemes from that point on.
  • Clause 113 (under Part 4) brings in the commencement date of the legislation. [113(2a)] brings Chapter 1 (the remediable service) into force on 1 October 2023 or an earlier date such as treasury may by regulations appoint. This is in line with the consultation and the stance that schemes can ‘choose’ whether to go earlier than 1 October 2023, but no later. The legislation is also prescriptive regarding the need for Scheme Managers to provide each eligible member with a Service Remediable Statement within 18 month of 1 October 2023 (Clause 26).
  • Remedy attempts to put people in the right position directly. Where this is not possible, Clause 21 & 22 which introduce a power to pay compensation for ‘tax losses’ and ‘other losses’. This is useful because it recognises there will be losses and commits to compensating the member, but there is no detail on whether employers will be compensated (ie scheme sanction charge for unauthorised payment charges). It is also not clear whether those ‘losses’ would be compensated in advance of the regs, ie via ID.
  • HMT/HO signal that in some cases, it may be possible for schemes to offer members a choice before the deferred choice underpin is implemented. However, the legislation that allows schemes to do this is limited in effect. It allows schemes to return eligible members who retired from the reformed schemes to the legacy schemes in relation to service after 1 April 2015 but does not allow for all consequential matters to be dealt with satisfactorily in all cases.
  • HMT/HO signal that giving effect to Immediate Detriment before legislation is implemented creates complex issues, particularly where there are interactions with the tax system, and it is not clear these cases can consistently be processed under pre-existing legislation without potentially creating adverse impacts. The government is continuing work to resolve these issues and to make legislative changes where necessary through the PSP&JO Bill. We are discussing the wording around Immediate Detriment with Home Office to establish if there has been any change in position necessitating any change in guidance and we will provide a further update once this has been clarified
  • Where the changes legislated for through the Bill produce disproportionate tax results that cannot be resolved through powers provided in the PSP&JO Bill, further changes will be made in the upcoming Finance Bill and scheme regulations.

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Wednesday 26 May 2021

Frequently Asked Questions link provided by XPS the Pension Provider https://www.myownpension.co.uk/documents/Police/Police%20QandA.pdf which is a good source of information for officers.

Information for members can also be found on the “Legal Challenge” tab at https://www.myownpension.co.uk/pages/pol_employee.html

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Thursday 4 February 2021

Government Pension Remedy Proposals

 ‘The government has today published its consultation response on how it intends to remove the discrimination identified by the courts in the 2015 pension reforms through legislation and changes to Police pension regulations. It is expected that the consultation response relating to the separate LGPS Remedy changes will be published later this month.

The Home Office have put together guidance and Q&As https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-service-pension-schemes-consultation-response-guidance.

The main points are:

Remedy applies to all who were members of a ’legacy’ public service pension scheme (or eligible to be) immediately prior to 1 April 2012 and have a period of service after 31 March 2015 during which they were members of a legacy or reformed scheme (including those with a qualifying break in service of less than 5 years). 

  • If you joined the Police service on or after 1 April 2012, these remedy arrangements do not apply to you.
  • The Remedy Period is 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022.  Eligible members will have a choice of having either legacy or reform benefits during this period.  There is no choice of scheme benefits accrued in legacy schemes before 2015 or after April 2022.                                               
  • The government has determined that the choice will be deferred – this means you won’t have to make the choice until you retire.

But, until that choice upon retirement, all eligible members will in due course be reverted to their legacy scheme (for police officers, the 1987 scheme or the 2006 scheme) for the whole of their service in the Remedy Period.  To do this means calculating and implementing remedy for each individual which will take some time, and will require pension administrators to update their systems and processes.  Because this will take time to do, the actual implementation of this change won’t be effective until October 2023 at the latest. In addition, fully protected members, including those who have already retired, will be given a choice between retaining their legacy benefits or choosing to take 2015 benefits for the remedy period, although with the 2015 scheme there is no access to reform benefits before age 55, so we do not anticipate this option being widely adopted.

Eligible members will then have a choice on retirement whether their scheme benefits relating to the Remedy Period remain in their legacy scheme, or they choose to convert it to 2015 scheme membership.

All members will then be placed in the 2015 scheme from 1 April 2022 (the end of the Remedy Period). No changes to current pension arrangements will take place until April 2022. 

Those who are entitled to retire before October 2023 will still be able to do so, but some may need their benefits amended after the implementation of the final policy. Particularly members with some 2015 scheme (CARE) membership who are retiring in advance of remedy implementation, will need to let their administrator know at least 3 months before the intended date of retirement, to allow time to assess what pension benefits are available to you.  Other planned retirements, such as at age 55 or after 30 years’ membership of the 1987 scheme, will continue as now.

Over the coming months we will be working with the force pension administrator, Home Office and NPCC Pensions Team to review all the implications of today’s announcement and further information will be published including illustrating the impact of remedy benefits for a range of scheme members and updating the Home Office pension calculator. Pension administrators will not be in a position to provide individual remedy figures for the great majority of scheme members impacted by remedy until implementation in 2023.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, who is leading on this issue on behalf of NPCC, has commented: ‘Today’s announcement sets out how and when officers will be able to access their pension entitlement for the remedy period. This is an important step in addressing the uncertainty for colleagues. I know that officers will be really keen to know what this means for them at a personal level. The complexity of applying today’s announcement to an individual case is significant but I know, of great significance to those it affects. The NPCC team are working hard with the Home Office, Forces and their pension administrators to ensure that the remedy is implemented, and that as soon as we can, more information is made available to officers’.

Further information will be made available as soon as it is received and placed on this page. If you have questions regarding pension remedy, please raise them via your individual Force as shown below.  These will be reviewed and responded to.  If you are intending to retire shortly and have 2015 membership, please make contact for this to be discussed with you.’

Devon and Cornwall Police: Please email: pensionremedyenquiries@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk

Dorset Police: Please email: pensionremedyenquiries@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk

Wiltshire:  Please email: PensionRemedyEnquiries@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk

Gloucestershire: Please email:  PensionRemedyEnquiries@gloucestershire.pnn.police.uk

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